1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to appliances and, more particularly, to end caps for control consoles for use with such appliances.
2Description of Related Art
In electrical appliances, such as washers and dryers, the electrical controls are provided on a control console carried on the upper portion of the rear of the appliance cabinet. The console provides a housing structure for the mounting of control elements, such as rotary knobs, switches, push buttons and the like, which extend out of the control console and are readily manipulated by the user of the appliance.
The control console is conventionally mounted between a pair of end caps which are, in turn, mounted to the top of the appliance cabinet. The end caps known in the art tend to be two-piece assemblies, and require independent fastening means to attach the control console thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,613 is exemplary of this type of end cap.
The '613 patent discloses a two piece end cap including a base or bottom part which is mounted to the top surface of the appliance cabinet by conventional tongue and groove mounting means. The top part of the end cap provides a series of mounting flanges or extensions which project into slots provided by the bottom part to interconnect the two parts. The bottom part of the end cap provides inwardly extending posts which are positioned adjacent a flange of the control console and attached thereto by means of screws. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,798,424; and 4,765,698 disclose similar end cap constructions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,133 discloses an end cap which is used to form a uniform corner for the appliance cabinet. A control housing provides rear and side walls, and the end cap is attached to the front portion of each the side walls. The end cap is used to secure the control and decorative panels to the control housing by means of conventional fastening means.
In all the end caps known in the art, additional independent fastening means are required in order to mount the end caps to the control console. The use of additional fastening means increases both cost and assembly time. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an end cap which can be mounted to the control console without the need for additional fastening means.